Page 45 of Vodka and Chocolate Drops

“Any relation?” Wanda asked. She held another dress under Amber’s chin before placing it back on the rack.

Amber could feel her friends watching her, wondering who Delia was, but being too polite to ask. So far.

“She does look a lot like me, doesn’t she? Uncanny,” she said, struggling to refrain from blurting out the exciting truth. “I’m going to try these on.” Amber waved the dresses and hightailed it to the fitting room before her valve broke and her mother’s secrets leaked out.

In the fitting room she took several deep breaths, relieved she hadn’t said anything, but worried that she’d somehow given the others something to go on.

She tried on a dress. The style was flattering, but the fabric too flowery. Looking at the chosen items she began to doubt her plan. She wasn’t even sure what would catch Scott’s eye. Plus she needed to be able to wear the dress down the streets of Blueberry Springs without everyone knowing she was up to something. The plan was to woo Scott to the point where he couldn’t say no. To the point where he’d realize just how serious she was.

“How does it look?” Wanda asked.

Amber opened the door and did a twirl for her audience. Jen scrunched up her face, while Mandy gazed thoughtfully.

“Size and style are right, but it’s not quite you,” Wanda said, turning to dive back through her racks.

“Where’s Nicola?” Amber asked.

“Trying on a red number.”

“Ta-da!” Nicola said, popping out of the change room next to Amber’s. “What do you think?” She did a twirl and curtsy.

“You look hot.” Amber tried not to let her jealousy show. The dress did all the right things for her friend, somehow shaving her hips into proportion with her small waist and chest. “Between the weight you’ve lost and this dress, you are going to turn heads.”

“I’d better lock up Devon,” Mandy said. “He’ll never stop drooling over you.”

“Oh, your brother doesn’t scare me,” Nicola said, checking the dress in the mirror.

“Nicola!” Wanda clapped her hands together, staring at her. “It’s perfect on you.” She flung a dress at Amber and turned away. “I also have it in midnight blue. You have to try it. It will be incredible with your blond hair.”

“My brothershouldscare you,” Mandy said. “That man needs stitches or casts every five months due to his daredevil ways.”

“He’s pretty cute,” Amber said. “You should set him up with someone, Mandy. That might tame him. Keep him alive a little longer, too.”

Mandy laughed. “Good luck. He’s going to be a bachelor forever.”

A look crossed Nicola’s face and Amber felt as though she’d missed something. That was the problem about being away for a few years and then having your head up your butt. She didn’t know what was going on any longer, even though Nicola had lived in Blueberry Springs only since January.

Jen, still sitting, but now with her chin propped on her fist and eyes closed, looked as though she was drifting off. So much for the common sense element helping out if needed.

Mandy held up a new green dress Wanda had brought, along with the midnight-blue one for Nicola. “This is nice. Same style as that one, different fabric. Not quite so cotton candy.”

“May as well try it,” Amber said, casting a glance at Nicola, who was still admiring herself in the mirror. “You need to buy that,” she told her, “in every color they have. It’s stunning.”

A few dresses later, Amber had a simple A-line dress in emerald green she figured would do the trick. As she eyed her reflection, butterflies stormed her stomach. Could she simply practice saying the words, close her eyes, and deliver them? Problem solved? Man captured?

She whispered to the mirror, “Scott Malone, I love you to bits.”

“I’m so telling Scott,” Nicola teased from the room next door.

“Yeah? Then I’ll tell Todd you love him.”

Silence.

“Nicola?”

“Yeah? What? I’m fine!” she chirped.

“Are you decent? Expect a visitor,” Amber said, unlatching her side of the fitting room partition, ready to swing it open to make one big space, like brides did when trying on large dresses. “Unlatch your side.” She rapped on the wall. “Nicola?”

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